Joshua Cheptegei of Team Uganda and Mohammed Ahmed of Team Canada celebrate during the Men's 10,000-metre final on day seven of the 2024 Olympic Games at Stade de France on Aug. 2, in Paris, France.Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Mohammed Ahmed has been trying for four Olympics to win a medal in the 10,000 metres. He just missed out in Paris on Friday, finishing fourth in a tight race that went down to the final few metres.
Ahmed, 33, ran with the leaders through much of the race and was in second position heading into the final 200 metres. But he faded just slightly in the last straightway and was passed by Grant Fisher of the United States, who sneaked in for third in 26 minutes 43.46 seconds, just half a step ahead of the Canadian.
The race was won by Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, who set an Olympic record of 26:43.14. It’s the first gold for Uganda in the 112-year history of this race at the Olympics.
Silver went to Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia, who ran 26:43.44. Ahmed finished a close fourth in 26:43.79.
Cheptegei took the lead with a little more than a lap left in a masterpiece of a final. The world-record holder raced in the middle of a strung-out pack for most of the 25 laps on the calm, cool evening outside of Paris. Then he took off, and held the lead over the final 500 metres against a crowd of Ethiopians who set a blistering pace all night.
The win earned Cheptegei US$50,000 – a new prize for Olympic track this year – and a chance to ring the bell at the end of the stadium that is reserved only for newly crowned Olympic champions.
Cheptegei adds this to the silver medal he won in Tokyo and the world titles he took in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
But there was no slighting the performance of the Canadian.
“I knew this race was going to be really, really tough, because it had eight of the top 14 all time, or something like that,” Ahmed said afterward. “This was the hardest 10,000-metre race ever because of the depth.”
Ahmed said he executed his race strategy as well as he could and fended off each challenge. “I just didn’t have anything left in the last 50,” he said. “I had nothing left. I buckled at the line.”
He still has the 5,000 metres in Paris, which starts on Aug. 7 with the qualification rounds. He won silver in Tokyo in that event, and he’ll be hoping to improve on that in the final on Aug. 10.
His mind is now focused on the next race, he said. And quoting Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, Ahmed added: “There is no tomorrow in yesterday, so let us advance.”
With a report from The Associated Press